Stress Less By Doing Less This Holiday Season

Shortly after releasing her new book, we got to sit down with our favorite health and wellness expert, Reena Vokoun. She's sharing her tips on how to stress less this holiday season. This segment is sponsored by PassionFit. Well, Reena, we are into the holiday season, and what is usually a time of joy for many can be overwhelming.

Yes, according to the American Psychological Association, 9 out of 10 people feel that the holidays create stress in their lives, and 43% say that it really takes away from their enjoyment of the holiday season altogether.

Well, we can always count on you for tips and tricks to overcome all of that fear and anxiety and stress. So you have some great tips for us today to do less during the holidays.

Exactly. I think we're always trying to do so much for our family and our friends, and you know, we really exhaust ourselves from all of it. So yes, this year my goal is to teach people to do less, which is a lesson I need to take myself. But really starting off with our to-do list, right? The holiday to-do list can be over overwhelming. So I encourage everyone to just take a deep breath and really focus on maybe your top 3 to 5 most important things that you need to get done during the season, and then honestly let go of the rest because oftentimes they aren't as important, and maybe you'll free up time to finish up a project at work or get in your workout or cook a healthy meal. So try to really focus again on the most important things on your to-do list for the holidays.

Okay, so we narrow down our to-do list. What else can we do to just make sure that we're getting the most out of this time of year?

Yeah, obviously this time of year is filled with holiday parties and get-togethers and family events and things of that nature. And while we all want to go to everything, or maybe not, maybe there's things you don't want to go to, again, it's really prioritizing and looking at what are the most important events that you need to attend, make sure to go to those. But if there are some nice-to-haves, you can certainly, you know, respectfully decline and then use that time to maybe stay in with your family, watch a holiday movie, maybe bake some holiday treats, order in, Go to bed early.

Okay, what else do you have for us to lessen the stress?

With holiday shopping, obviously there's long lines, there's limited parking, and you may not have all the products that you want in stock. And so if it's possible, maybe think about online shopping when you're holiday shopping for your family and friends. And you can still, you know, really focus on being thoughtful with your gifts, but you're just kind of taking out some of the complexity of the logistics. And maybe also have some gift cards, you know, just at home, just on standby for those quick gifts that you might need to give to a neighbor or coworker something like that.

Brilliant idea there. And also, when it comes to holiday cards, that's something a lot of people look forward to, but it can also be a major source of stress, especially for the moms in the house trying to organize it all.

Yes, I will be honest, I spent 15 years oftentimes staying up late, you know, putting together over 300 holiday cards for family, friends, neighbors, and all the important people in our lives. And it is— it takes a lot of time and energy, a lot of money and postage, and all all those things. And so for myself, and I've recommended this to my clients as well, I broke free from it and I still got the holiday cards and the family photos done, but I just was basically sending them to people online. You can do it over email, you can text your friends, you can post it on social media, and if people want to print out those cards, they still have the ability if they really want to have that physical card. But for you, it just takes away some of that stress and that anxiety of such a big project that can often be overwhelming.

I love it. Great advice. And you can find more advice year-round in your brand new book. I am just loving The Wellness Empowered Woman. What a great idea for a holiday gift.

Yes, The Wellness Empowered Woman is the first book, and the second book is The Wellness Evolved Woman. It's part of a women's wellness book series, and yeah, they're available on Amazon and Barnes Noble. Great for holiday shopping and to give to your loved ones.

Okay, and in addition to giving a gift, maybe pick one up for yourself. I just love the advice in this book. If you had to boil it down, what's the big takeaway?

Yeah, the big takeaway is just practicing self-love, really understanding yourself, where you've been, where you are, where you're heading. And, you know, take your core values and all the things that are important to you and keep your wellness practices in place as you evolve and change through different stages of life. You know, with the holidays here, the new year not too far away, it's a really good time to take stock of yourself and kind of what you want out of your life going forward and how wellness can help you get there.

Reena, this is of course available at Amazon, Barnes Noble, and your website. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Ashley, and happy holidays.

Thank you, you too.

Thank you.

This segment is sponsored by PassionFit.